were guilty of many acts of ingratitude and disobedience but the whole is laid to their want of faith this was the cause of all: and so it is in every other man, with whom God is not well pleased; for without faith it is impossible to please him. Heb. xi. 6. And while faith is the root of all good, it is the only remedy against all the evils of life; it gives patience and is the victory that overcometh the world. When the storm arises, and the waves toss themselves, it knows that Christ is with it in the ship: it levels all mankind, by making the gifts of the poor equal to those of the rich it performs what human strength cannot accomplish; all things are possible to him that believeth. Mark ix. 23.

I have said thus much to convince you, that in all the transactions betwixt man and God, faith is every thing: and that without it, the name of Christianity may remain, but the thing is lost.

We are now to ask what is the present state of faith in the Christian world? But for this inquiry we shall not be well prepared, unless we attend first to a plain distinction, which is of the utmost importance in our present subject. When we speak of reason, we mean the wisdom of man; and I know of none who will not give me leave thus to define it: but by the Gospel, we mean the word of faith, or the wisdom of God. Between these two there is an essential difference; and the Scripture assures us in the plainest language, that, ever since the entrance of sin, there has been an opposition. The manner in which God has thought proper to save mankind, is not approved by the wisdom of man. It is so contrary to his thoughts, and so mortifying to his wishes, that the preaching of it, being taken for foolishness, was seconded by the force of miracles; and even these were often found in

sufficient to make men receive it. And when it is admitted, it will always be in danger from the wisdom of man. There are in the world two interests, the human interest and the divine interest: and they can no more prevail both at once, than any other two parties in opposition. The one party rejoices to own, that man is wise with the word of God; the other boasts that man is wise without the word of God. The one raises high thoughts and imaginations, as so many strong holds and fortifications of human wisdom: the other is mighty through God to the pulling them all down, 2 Cor. x. 4. that God alone may be exalted what the one builds, the other demolishes. Take faith and reason for the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man, in which sense I have used them, and the opposition between them is undeniable: if that, then, be true, which a foolish man hath said, that the present age is the age of reason; then it must follow, that it is not the age of faith; which is, indeed, what he means; and then our point is proved without farther trouble. In such persons as himself and his friends, the assertion is true in its fullest sense: reason is triumphant over faith; that is, man has prevailed against God. And I wish, we could stop here; but it is our duty to examine, how far faith is decaying in better people, and on what principles? The attempt, I well know, is critical and dangerous; and, to some persons, I doubt not, it will give offence. But this we are not to regard; for there never yet was the time or place, when good could be done to some without offence given to others. It was the fate of the Gospel, and of Christ the author of it. When the Apostles preached the Gospel at Jerusalem, "say no more about it," said the Jews: and the Devils said to their Master," why art thou come to torment us?

As if his design, which was to save the world, had been only to torment them. Such considerations as these ought not to stop us at any time, and least of all at this time; let us therefore proceed.

When we review the different sorts of men as they present themselves to us on the present occasion, the first that occur are the Infidels of the age, who openly declare their unbelief. That the faith is not found in them, and that it never will be, needs no proving. Here the fact is as open as it is lamentable; and if we cast our eye over Christendom, we shall observe how they have increased of late years; perhaps there are ten for one, if the end of this century be compared with the beginning of it. The more we have of these in the earth, so much the less is faith found in it: and if we look forward, the prospect is tremendous ! Should the world go on to its appointed period (whatever that may be) and this humour should prevail in the proportion it hath of late years, it seems as if no flesh could be saved. But it is promised, for the sake of God's elect, that the days shall be shortened. Matt. xxiv. 22. A few A few years ago, it seemed as if the infidel party trusted to scoffing and jesting and pleasantry, and meant no more than to laugh the Gospel out of the world if they could. These were the coruscations of wit, which played in the air for a while, and pretended to be gentle and harmless; but they were soon changed into the thunders of persecution, and followed by torrents of Christian blood; insomuch that it is probable the heathens, when they raged most furiously against the Gospel, did never shed so much blood in so short a time. If they have any friends in this country, they are found among persons of the same class, actuated by the same spirit; men of no religion, or of a false religion, which is as bad as none, and some

times worse. amongst us.

These are the worst members of society

Next to these are the men of pleasure, whose minds being wholly devoted to themselves, they see nothing of God or of another world. With them the present moment is all and when pleasure is the God, we can easily tell how he will be worshipped. In the days of Faith and Piety, churches are seen to arise about a country, for the honour of God, and the practice of devotion: but in proportion as infidelity increases, it will be with us as with the Greeks and Romans; spectacles will be multiplied; theatres will arise, and outshine the glories and splendors of religion *. There was a time, when the priest of the country parish was seen leading his people to public prayers in the middle of the week; in some places on every day; where now no such practice is seen or thought of. If faith is alive in the heart, it will as certainly pray, as a living body will certainly breathe. If Christians do not pray so much in this age, as they used to do in the last; there is not so much faith amongst them now as there was then †. And if we

* One of our poets, a professed derider of faith, triumphs in this as a certain symptom of the decay of superstition: his words are too remarkable to be omitted:

In the good age of ghostly ignorance,
How did cathedrals rise, and zeul advance!
But now that pious pageantry's no more,
And stages thrive as churches did before,

There never was a more severe satire upon the entertainments of the theatre; not excepting even the Book of Jeremiah Collier with all its wit and spirit. The author of these lines was supposed to be Dr. Garth and they were preached (as a prologue) to a very numerous congregation.

↑ An excellent discourse on the daily service of the Church of England, is distributed this year, as the annual present, by the

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proceed from the state of prayer, to the way of preaching and handling the Scripture; there again we are much degenerated; and all upon the same principle, the decay of faith. We preach Christ crucified, said the Apostle too many of his successors, alas, might say, we do not preach Christ crucified," we have more of the orator and the philosopher than of the apostle, and have improved the obsolete Christian' Homily, into an Essay upon Virtue. How many there may be of this way I do not conjecture: may their number be much less than is apprehended! but in the beginning of the last century there were none. In expounding the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, the decay of faith makes a great difference. It was the doctrine of St. Paul, in his charge to a Minister of the Gospel, that the Scriptures of the Old Testament were able to make men wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus: 2 Tim. iii. 15. consequently, if they are interpreted without that faith, their nature is changed, and they no longer answer their design. The word of God, like man, for whom it was given, consists of two parts, a body and a soul, called the Letter and the Spirit; the one the object of sense, the other of faith; and as the body without the spirit is dead, so is the Scripture a dead letter, unless we keep the spirit and interpretation of it. Instances might be given in abundance to shew my meaning; but let us be content with one.

The things which God did for our fathers, under Moses, have a spiritual relation to us, and shewed what God would do for us under the Gospel; and

Society for promoting Christian Knowledge; occasioned by the notorious decay of daily worship, particularly in cities and populous

towns.